Description
Designed by John H. Duncan, the architect of Grant's Tomb, the memorial is an early example of the Beaux Arts style in America. Its design is based on "The Monument", a 1671 structure built to commemorate the Great Fire of London, on the London street where the 1666 fire started. The height of the Trenton monument is intentionally the same height as the London monument.
The hollow Roman-Doric fluted column of the memorial is of granite construction, as is the pedestal which supports it, although slightly darker stone was used to give the appearance of more solidity to the base. The column is capped by a small, round pavilion, forming an observatory; accessible by means of an electric elevator, it has provided thousands of tourists an excellent view of Trenton, and the surrounding battle scene, over the years. Encircling the column, just above the cap, thirteen electric lights, symbolic of the original Thirteen Colonies, shed their radiance at night.
The pavilion is surmounted by an acanthus leaf pedestal where, atop the entire structure, a bronze statue of General George Washington by William Rudolf O'Donovan crowns the impressive monument. Washington is depicted as he appeared at the opening of the engagement and, with his extended right hand, directs the fire of the Continental artillery down King (now Warren) Street. The figure is 13 feet (4.0 m) feet high while the monument, including the statue, is 150 feet (46 m) above street level.
On the east, west and south sides of the base of the pedestal are three bronze reliefs by Thomas Eakins depicting "The Surrender of the Hessians," "The Continental Army Crossing the Delaware River" and "The Opening of the Battle," respectively; the latter shows the battery of Alexander Hamilton about to fire down King Street. On the north side of the pedestal is a bronze tablet presented by the Society of the Cincinnati of New Jersey.
Guarding the entrance to the monument stand two bronze figures of Continental soldiers. One is the statue of Private John Russell, a member of Colonel John Glover's Marblehead Regiment of seafaring men from Marblehead, Massachusetts, who gained fame by transporting Washington's army across the ice-choked Delaware River on the night of December 25–26, 1776. The other figure is modeled after a likeness of Private Blair McClenachan, of the Philadelphia Light Horse Troop, a unit which also took part in the Battle of Trenton.
Read more about this topic: Trenton Battle Monument
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